As Alan Rickman famously delivered, “Alexander wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” This curious dilemma seems to be at the forefront of Joey Bada$$’ mind in 2025 after a string of top-notch albums has left the Brooklyn-based rapper with an insurmountable reputation to contend with. The question that defines ‘Lonely At The Top’ is one of suffering from success: where does Bada$$ go, after earning so much critical and commercial acclaim? It’s unfortunate that the record’s answer points straight into mediocrity, as this may be the rapper’s tamest material to date.

It seems fitting to move through the record in parts— as far as effectiveness is concerned, ‘Lonely At The Top’ is very much an album split in half. Along those lines, opener ‘DARK AURA’ is the clear standout on the project, with its gnarly bass hook and grandiose instrumentation providing the perfect backbone for Bada$$’ ultra-confident delivery. The rapper attacks the cut with some real venom, spitting out arrogant bar after arrogant bar like the entire hip-hop landscape is beneath him: it’s here that Bada$$ is in his absolute element, striking back at a scene that aimed several diss tracks at him earlier this year.

“Lifestyles of the rich and famous

Custom-fitted shoes, tailored waistband, tuck the stainless

Got to move swift and dangerous, they gon' have to lift them wages

You ain't talking money, you must be talking a different language”

The first leg of ‘Lonely At The Top’ is home to the most hard-hitting material Bada$$ has to offer this time around, and winds up as the album’s most memorable stretch by proxy. ‘SUPAFLEE’ opens with the rapper stating clearly that “I can’t lose”— it’s easy to believe him in that moment, as the song’s comically infectious beat and confident flows really sell the holier-than-thou persona the record is peddling. The following ‘HIGHROLLER’ achieves a similar level of self-assuredness, even if the arrangement can feel a little overcrowded in places: more than anything, the track exemplifies Bada$$’ penchant for memorable writing, with a hilarious bar like “life is a b*tch and she back on her cycle” getting a chuckle out of us every time. In some ways, the first six tracks of ‘Lonely At The Top’ feel almost untouchable, simply because the rapper proclaims it so. Cuts like ‘SWANK WHITE’ and ‘READY TO LOVE’ may not be pushing the envelope as far as writing is concerned— doubly so for the latter, where Ty Dolla $ign delivers a catchy yet entirely predictable hook— but they are fairly strong nonetheless.

It’s from here that the wheels began to fall off though, turning a decently enjoyable modern hip-hop album into an underwhelming disappointment. Though slower, more laid-back cuts should fit the project’s underlying theme well, the tracklist we ended up with is chock full of forgettable rapping and lethargic production— Bada$$’ facade slips heavily here, and the record really suffers for it. Simply put, the attempts at melodic rapping that take place on ‘UNDERWATER’ and ‘3 FEET AWAY’ fall flat on their face, pushing Bada$$ way outside his comfort zone and placing him where he does not belong: the latter of those two may be one of the most dispensable cuts in the artist’s entire catalogue, wandering through such forgettable material as it does.

Though other inclusions like ‘SPEEDIN’ THROUGH THE RAIN’ and ‘STILL’ are far from unlistenable, they do a staggeringly poor job at leaving much of an impression: stacked up against comparable songs from projects like ‘B4.DA.$$’ and ‘2000,’ ‘Lonely At The Top’ continually comes up short. There’s a plainness to the presentation of these cuts that betrays a little more indecision than was probably intended to come through— Bada$$ does his job here, but there’s hardly anything to keep us returning. It’s a shame too, as the closing title track retains that focus on quiet arrogance, yet feels far more enthralling and mysterious than what came before it: the song’s jazz instrumentation may be nothing new as far as modern hip-hop is concerned, but it’s nonetheless fitting as a closing note for an album such as this.

Listening to ‘Lonely At The Top,’ the hunger that burned away across a project like ‘1999’ feels more distant than ever— though Joey Bada$$ has more than earned the right to rest on his laurels, his newest project has suffered for it regardless. Diehard fans of the rapper will no doubt find some material to enjoy here, as on the face of it, Bada$$ is continuing to deliver the braggadocious goods we’ve come to expect from him. Somehow though, it’s at the height of his power that the artist seems more vulnerable, and more easily disregarded, than ever.